Lady of the moment Emma Watson has admitted that she used to believe love had to hurt to be real.
The My Week with Marilyn star said that she grew up believing "true love" meant a tumultuous and sometimes painful relationship: "When I started dating, I had this kind of Romeo and Juliet, fateful, romantic idea about love," she told the October issue of US Glamour.
"It was almost that you were a victim - that there was a lot of pain involved and that was how it should be. Shakespeare said the course of true love never did run smooth and I had a sense it had to be painful," she added.
"It was such a revelation to realise it shouldn't be that way and you get to choose who you love and who you give your heart to."
The My Week with Marilyn star said that she grew up believing "true love" meant a tumultuous and sometimes painful relationship: "When I started dating, I had this kind of Romeo and Juliet, fateful, romantic idea about love," she told the October issue of US Glamour.
"It was almost that you were a victim - that there was a lot of pain involved and that was how it should be. Shakespeare said the course of true love never did run smooth and I had a sense it had to be painful," she added.
"It was such a revelation to realise it shouldn't be that way and you get to choose who you love and who you give your heart to."
The 22-year-old said she only reconsidered her beliefs when she realised that she needed to be happy in herself for a relationship to work: "The sad thing is you only learn from experience, so as much as someone can tell you things, you have to go out there and make your own mistakes in order to learn," she explained.
"It sounds like a cliche, but I also learnt that you're not going to fall for the right person until you love yourself and feel good about how you are. It's only recently that I've felt much better in my own skin and known my own worth a lot more than I used to. I [now] like this idea of quality control: that we don't have to accept just anyone into our lives," Watson continued. "But women have a tendency to want to nurture and take care of men.
"You think the guy is going to end up coming around and you're going to be the one that saves him - like the Oasis song ['Wonderwall'].
"I don't think you can change people," she admitted, "but women always hope for the best. You accept the love that you think you deserve," she added, quoting the tagline from the forthcoming film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, in which she stars. "I wish someone had told me at 15. I would have approached my relationships completely differently if they had."
"It sounds like a cliche, but I also learnt that you're not going to fall for the right person until you love yourself and feel good about how you are. It's only recently that I've felt much better in my own skin and known my own worth a lot more than I used to. I [now] like this idea of quality control: that we don't have to accept just anyone into our lives," Watson continued. "But women have a tendency to want to nurture and take care of men.
"You think the guy is going to end up coming around and you're going to be the one that saves him - like the Oasis song ['Wonderwall'].
"I don't think you can change people," she admitted, "but women always hope for the best. You accept the love that you think you deserve," she added, quoting the tagline from the forthcoming film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, in which she stars. "I wish someone had told me at 15. I would have approached my relationships completely differently if they had."
